Derrick Callella of Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment using a telecommunication device, officials say.
TUCSON, Ariz. — A Southern California man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Tucson to harassing the family of Nancy Guthrie, according to federal documents.
Derrick Callella, 42, of Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment using a telecommunication device during a hearing before U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker.
Court records show Callella admitted that on Feb. 4, 2026, he called and sent text messages to Nancy Guthrie’s family regarding a bitcoin transfer. Prosecutors said Callella knew an earlier ransom demand had been made and acknowledged that his messages were intended to harass the family while seeking information about the disappearance investigation.
Callella is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10, 2026.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, along with up to one year of supervised release.
The FBI’s Tucson office is investigating the case. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona are handling the prosecution.
Guthrie is the mother of longtime “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie. Authorities believe she was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will on Feb. 1. They found blood near the front doorstep of her home just outside Tucson, and the FBI later released surveillance videos showing a masked man on the porch that night.
Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the weeks after she vanished. A volunteer group recently conducted a search for her body near the Arizona-Mexico border.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.